Any USC Pharm.D. students/graduates out there?

[RxLord]

If you are a USC student/graduate, how have you financed your education? Has USC offered you a lot of scholarships/financial aid?

Would you advise taking a more cost-effective approach to receiving a Pharm.D. (i.e. attending a more inexpensive institution over USC)?

Any suggestions or insight to my questions would be extremely helpful. Thank you.

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[BMBiology]

If I had to choose, I would go to a less reputable school that is less expensive. Whether you will become a good pharmacist depends mainly on you, not the school. USC does provide scholarships but it is usually not more than $2000 a year. USC does have a lot of tradition, but ultimately, a pharmacy school education is very similar since it is regulated by the ACPE.

 

[Farmercyst]

Agreed, so far I've been using Staffords for tuition and savings for living expenses. Starting next semester it'll be Stafford for tuition and GradPLUS for living expenses. I was hoping I'd get at least 2 years on my savings but the stock market/economy pretty well made sure that didn't happen. Anyhow, a cheaper institution would work. The support of family pretty much dictated I stay in SoCal, so in that sense the difference in tuition between institutions would keep me at USC anyway. If I were not married, no kids, I'd probably have applied to more out of state schools.

 

[RxLord]

What school do you currently attend? And, would you agree that getting your BCPS training at a reputable institution would be more practical than just getting your Pharm.D. there? Also, is it true that going to a less prestigious university decreases your chances of getting a good residency?

 

[ItsOverZyvox]

Years ago, my first year USC tuition alone was $15,500. Alot of money back then. The tuition went up $1,000 per year and my 4th year, it was $18,500.

I lived on campus first 2 years then moved back in with my parents for 3rd and 4th year. I worked every weekend and full time during summer as an intern. That's right USC will give you piddely $1000 to $2000 drug company sponsored scholarships.

With Stafford loans, I ended up borrowing $50,000 total. Some of you may be borrowing that amount yearly. But put this into perspective. My first pharmacy job out of school in 1995, my salary was $41,080 with monthly loan repayment of $830. After a while, you tend to forget that you have a repayment and just go about your business. Yes I paid it off in little less than 10 years and it feels good.

Will I have gone to UCSF for a lower tuition? No because it wouldn't have made that much difference for me back then. Heck...UCSF doesn't have a football team.

 

[RxLord]

ItsOverZyvox: So it wouldn't have that much of a difference in terms of tuition/living costs for you? Would it have changed your employment prospects at all?

You see, ISU and USC has the same passing rates for their exam and both offer Pharm.D. programs. However, ISU is 1/4th the total cost of USC. USC boasts about its repuation of having "network connections." I mean would it really effect the kind of job I get by going to USC over ISU? I could see it in terms of BCPS training and specialized training but not over a Pharm.D. Is my preception nieve or ???

 

[ItsOverZyvox]

Go to ISU. There are too many variables between our value system that you can't really model your future based on my experience.